The present invention relates to the field of portable wireless communications devices, and more particularly to a method of variably assigning a default call address to a push-to-talk key of a portable wireless communications device.
The use of portable wireless communications devices, such as cellular phones, personal communications assistants, and the like, is rapidly increasing throughout society. These wireless communications devices come in a wide variety of configurations, depending on their intended applications. For instance, common cellular telephones attempt to mimic traditional landline telephones, but with additional functionality, such as portability and memorization of large numbers of phone numbers. One trait of landline phones retained in most cellular phones is the ability to engage in full duplex communications. In the typical one-on-one conversation, full duplex operation allows both parties to simultaneously speak, as contrasted with the old prior art of mobile trunked-radio phones which allow only one party to speak at a time. In addition, with conference call or other multi-party capability, more than two parties can talk simultaneously. For ease of reference, this full duplex mode of operation will be referred to as xe2x80x9cphone mode.xe2x80x9d The details of phone mode operation in cellular phones are well known in the art.
Some cellular phones are not only capable of operating in phone mode, but also in what will be referred to herein as radio mode. Examples of such devices may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,618, which is incorporated herein by reference, and U.K. Patent Application 9214180.3. In radio mode, the phone appears to the user to handle communications in a half-duplex manner. That is, the cellular phone does not appear to the user as simultaneously transmitting and receiving voice data. Instead, the user must push a button known as a push-to-talk (PTT) button in order to include data corresponding to the user""s voice in the data transmitted; otherwise, the phone appears to the user as if it is in receiving only.
In order to place a call, a user must first identify the desired recipient(s). Typically, this is done by entering a phone number, or other identifier, collectively referred to herein as a call address, via a keypad. Alternatively, a user may select the call address from a list of stored call addresses, commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9cphone book.xe2x80x9d However, this process of entering numbers has proven to be cumbersome in some situations. As such, manufacturers have developed a variety of speed dial functions. For instance, a user may select a call address from memory by simply inputting the memory location, such as xe2x80x9c87xe2x80x9d, and pressing the send key. Alternatively, super speed dial approaches have been developed where the first ten memorized call addresses may be accessed through a single key stroke. For instance, by pressing and holding the xe2x80x9c7xe2x80x9d key, the user both selects the call address in the seventh memory location and initiates a call session.
One problem with speed dial and super speed dial approaches is the fixed relationship between the key sequence and the memory location. That is, key sequence Y always selects the call address in memory location X. In order to change the call address associated with a particular key, or key sequence, the user is required to change the data in the corresponding memory location. Such a process is cumbersome and error prone.
Thus, there remains a need for a simplified method of assigning a call address to a particular key for speed dialing. In particular, there remains a need for a simplified method of assigning a default call address to a hot key, such as a PTT key. Preferably, the method would allow a user to selectively assign any one of a plurality of stored call addresses to be the default call address associated with the hot key. Thereafter, pressing the hot key, without first entering a pending call address, causes the wireless communications device to initiate a radio mode call to the default call address.
The present invention provides a simplified method of assigning a call address to a key for speed dialing in radio mode. The existing call addresses stored in memory are reviewed by the user, and one of the call addresses is chosen as the default call address. This default call address is associated with a particular key, such as the PTT key. Thereafter, when the key is pressed to initiate a call without another call address currently pending, the default call address is used to initiate the call in radio mode. In preferred embodiments, the user may assign the call address to be the default without having to move the call address information from one memory location to another. Likewise, the user may change the call address assigned to be the default without having to move the call address information from one memory location to another. Thus, the present invention provides a simpler and less error prone procedure.